So I was reading through the referance guide and came upon an interesting question. Are Hired Guns and Stormtroopers villians? In other words you don't have to earn them through side misssions if you want to field them in open groups. Note I do not have either expansion so please correct me if I'm wrong.

They are available for Open Groups. The Villains and Heroes that must be won from missions have a black square to the left of their name indicating that they need to be earned before use.

They are available for Open Groups. The Villains and Heroes that must be won from missions have a black square to the left of their name indicating that they need to be earned before use.

Not entirely correct, the black square indicates that the figure is unique. Rebel deployment cards that don't have them are still considered allies but imperial/mercenary deployment cards that don't aren't considered villains (RRG page 5). (The result in this case is the same but best not to risk confusion).

Thanks that's what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm also still new, I just knew they did not have the black square indicating that they needed to be earned. I sadly get very little play of my game as my group gets together so sporadically and it is not always selected to play.